Diapirism in Northern Tunisia

Abstract

The diapirs of Northern Tunisia, composed mainly of evaporitic Triassic material, are the result of a complex evolution initiated by local basement movements of NNE-SSW faults, which at the end of the Early Cretaceous. This first uplift, occurring during a period without any folding of the sedimentary series, is purely halokinetic. Such diapiric activity remained in active progress throughout the Cretaceous and Early Tertiary, causing local disturbance in the related series. And then, during the Alpine Atlas orogeny, the diapiric structures underwent deformation according to their position in the orogenic area.